A well can be drilled into a subterranean structure for the purpose of recovering fluids from a reservoir in the subterranean structure. Examples of fluids include hydrocarbons, fresh water, or other fluids. Alternatively, a well can be used for injecting fluids into the subterranean structure.
Once a well is drilled, completion equipment can be installed in the well. Examples of completion equipment include a casing or liner to line a wellbore. Also, flow conduits, flow control devices, and other equipment can be installed to perform production or injection operations.
Historically, completion of a wellbore did not involve installation of electronic equipment. However, starting in the late 1980's or early 1990's it became common to deploy permanent pressure and temperature gauges in a completion. Since the 1990's, other permanent sensors such as array thermal sensors, distributed temperature sensors using fiber optic lines, distributed vibration sensors using fiber optics, and permanent geophones have been deployed, although their use has not been overwhelmingly adopted because of multiple issues. One issue associated with installation associated with deployment of permanent electronic equipment in a completion involves the powering of that equipment. Another issue relates to the lifecycle requirements of that equipment, and the inability or difficulty in retrieving such systems if they fail. In particular, the wellbore is considered to be a harsh environment, and electronic equipment that is part of a completion should be extremely robust because the lifecycle of a completion can extend decades.
In order to overcome at least the equipment powering issues, co-owned U.S. Ser. No. 13/358,569 (U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2013/0192851) to Algeroy et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety herein, provides coupler portions along a structure that are communicatively engageable with equipment in the structure. Thus, in accordance with some embodiments of that disclosure, coupler portions can be provided along a well to provide discrete coupling points that can be selectively engaged to equipment for performing electrical communication, hydraulic communication, and/or optical communication. Such coupling points can be considered docking points (or docking stations) for docking or other engagement of a tool that has a component or components that is/are to communicate electrically, hydraulically, and/or optically with other equipment using respective coupler portions. In some implementations, the coupler portions can be inductive coupler portions. In various embodiments, the inductive couplers portions are located on, in, or behind liners, and/or on, in, or behind casing. Inductive coupling involves transfer of a time-changing electromagnetic signal or power that does not rely upon a closed electrical circuit, but instead performs the transfer wirelessly. For example, if a time-changing current is passed through a coil, then a consequence of the time variation is that an electromagnetic field will be generated in the medium surrounding the coil. If a second coil is placed into that electromagnetic field, then a voltage will be generated on that second coil, which is referred to as the induced voltage.